resulting channel population would be misleading. It is necessary to consider the unequal contribution of individual monomers within the tetrameric BK structure to BK channel activity and alcohol sensitivity. For example, although Insertless predominates in amount, its influence on alcohol sensitivity is diminished because of the dominant nature of STREX in a tetramer. Our modeling approach considered this feature, and posits a mechanism by which the reorganization of BK transcripts results in the development of alcohol tolerant BK current. Of course, as with all such modeling, the results are suggestive rather than definitive. Nevertheless, they are consistent with the development of alcohol tolerance previously reported in neuronal cells (Pietrzykowski et al., 2004).
